Living Adventure

Wilderness

Shakily taking photos of the boat in your rear view mirror is probably a bad idea, but I kinda couldn’t help it. Buying a boat is something I’d put a lot of thought into, but I wasn’t sure when it would happen.

It’s not so much the commitment of owning and maintaining a boat as it is the commitment of sailing it, I don’t want this thing sitting sadly in my yard, so now there are some long salty days ahead of me. Nice sunny days for sure, but also days like today…50’s and raining, which is damn cold on a cramped boat when you’re not moving around too much.

So any way…adventures ahead.

Or at least that’s the plan. After my experience not actually going to the UK adventure planning has seemed a whole lot less solid. And it makes me more hesitant to put ideas and plans out there. I’ve realized I prefer the moment to moment decision making, doing what seems best with the information in front of me, and not forcing my self down a path just because my past self thought it was a good idea.

This might seem good, but it can get really confusing too. Especially when people keep asking “are you going back to Scotland?” and all I can really say is “yeah…probably? At some point? BUT LOOK! SAILBOAT!” Sailboat just happens to be the adventure right in front of me at the moment, so first things first :)

No I haven’t sailed it yet.

But…I like it a lot, and I can magically tow it behind my car, like this…

Actually this picture kinda makes it look like a banana, but in reality it looks like a boat. You’ll just have to trust me on this.

So that’s the adventure of the moment…and now I’m pouring over charts and hauling dusty boxes out of the back corners of my mind and trying to remember everything from my sailing training four years ago. This should be good…

I was reading someone’s thoughtful thoughts today, about adventures and sexism and such. About the way (generalizing here) that boys get pushed towards fearless risk taking and girls get pushed towards timidness and staying well away from risk.

I suppose some people see me that way, a male person taking risks and going on wild crazy adventures. I don’t see it that way. Continue reading →

Tim Moss just sent out this…

There’s a concept in wilderness survival and risk management. Basically, if something about your situation or environment changes, and you don’t account for the change in your decision making, you get screwed.

When your plan is based on good weather, and then clouds role in, you need to reassess. Maybe you turn back, maybe not, but the point is you have to stay open to change. We make plans with the information we have so it’s only natural that a change in information might change your plans. Continue reading →